Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ibarrelled through the clouds on my windrider, adrenaline surging through my veins as I drew back the string on my bow and took aim at the Raincarvers below.
The legion under my command were following the orders I’d given them down to the letter and I couldn’t deny the grim satisfaction I found in flexing my newfound authority. Not that it came close to making up for the price I was expected to pay for it.
At my back, a flock of Skyforgers swept through the air on windriders.
I’d claimed every Sinfair in Prince Dragor’s army for my legion and the other commanders had given them up more than willingly.
But I knew something they didn’t about the Sinfair and unlike those Generals who had always seen us as little more than cannon fodder, I knew the determination and resilience of their kind unlike any other.
No one on this battlefield had more to prove than a Sinfair and none would fight harder to do so.
I whistled sharply, the note carrying on the wind and commanding my windrider force to split in two as I spotted a group of Raincarvers preparing to launch a giant wave into the sky at us.
We sped through the air at speed, the wave hitting nothing but the thin clouds which divided us and with another sharp whistle every one of us had picked a target and fired our bows down on them.
Raincarvers screamed as we pierced their army like a pincushion, fifty soldiers falling at the attack while the rest fought to throw up shields of ice but we were already circling away from them.
Across the battlefield I could see Dragor’s tactics for dealing with the Void coming into play, the cannons and catapults firing tirelessly, the mechanisms not reliant on magic and so immune to the debilitating power of the Void.
But the Raincarvers had adapted and were shielding against the blows as often as they were able to strike true.
Only my legion seemed unperturbed by the way our magic had been stifled and I smiled grimly because there was only one reason for that.
I glanced over my shoulder at the pale faces of countless teens among my ranks, some of them here on their first battle but all of them were used to one thing the other warriors here weren’t – they had no magic to fight with in the first place.
Even those who had graduated Never Keep had spent years fighting before their magic was Awakened and were well practiced in making the most of every other option available to us.
I took in the battlefield as we circled, picking a new flank of the enemy army to strike at and directing my warriors toward it.
The Raincarvers were boastful and fervent in their attacks – clearly believing themselves to be the victors of this battle already and I could see that their new weapon was affording them the advantage, but it wasn’t over yet.
A legion of Raincarvers surged forward, spears of ice clutched in their fists as they ran at General Imona’s ground forces.
I cursed, whistling to my own legion to get them to turn, but I could already see that we were going to be too late.
Our forces had been blocked by the Void and though they raised their weapons and ran bravely into battle, the Raincarvers were rousing their water magic against them.
They would be drowned in a matter of minutes before ever getting close enough to strike their enemies with their blades.
I slit the tip of my finger open on my next arrow then took aim at the woman barking commands to the Raincarvers from the back of a warhorse and sent an arrow spearing through her throat.
She fell into her ranks with a bloody gurgle and I grunted as the blood magic I’d cast snapped taut between us, forcing her body to rise from the ground and swing her sword at her own people.
There were cries of confusion but her battalion surged to the east, still running for my people, my act not nearly enough to stop what was about to happen.
But as I braced for the sight of a hundred Stormfell warriors being drowned before me, the spears and waves of water which had been brewing in the hands of our enemies fell to nothing in their grasp.
The Raincarvers cried out in shock, their magic escaping them in an instant and I knew that only one thing could be responsible for that.
As the two magicless forces collided beneath me and my legion took aim where I’d directed, I whipped around, my eyes sharp on the Raincarver force to the south.
Air magic flooded my veins as I hunted the endless ranks of warriors and I gasped in surprise, calling a storm to my fingertips, but it was snatched away from me just as quickly.
The Void.
I shot to the right, hurtling through the air until suddenly my magic returned once more, right when I was positioned above the thickest of the Cascadian ranks.
I sped on, urging my legion along behind me, directing them at targets as we went until I reached the edge of the fighting and still my power remained with me.
I slapped a hand to the rune on the side of my windrider, topping up the power in it even though I knew it held enough energy to sustain us up here for hours.
But on a battlefield I was never short on magic.
The desires of those desperate to survive and claim glory filled my reserves beyond measure.
“Andre, Becca!” I barked and the two warriors sped closer to hear my commands.
“Take word to the other generals – the Void can only strike in straight lines – the ranks to the east still have access to their magic but if she blocks them she blocks her people too. If we can figure out where they have her positioned then we can move into the spaces between her power and even out this fight once more.”
They nodded their understanding and sped away.
“We strike where we’re needed,” I told the rest before leading them back across the warring armies to the ranks which were being blocked by the Void and were most vulnerable because of it.
“Alissa,” I called to the warrior who I’d chosen for my second. “Take charge while I’m gone, keep your focus on their commanders and–”
My words were broken apart by an ear-splitting roar. Every warrior on the battlefield seemed to pause their fighting to whip around and look to the mountain to the north as a sight forgotten to myth and legend emerged from its shadow.
My lips fell apart as the steel grey Dragon raced across the sky, fire blossoming from his jaws and a pair of powerful wings beating in perfect synchronicity at his back.
I stared at Bastian in awe as he tore through the sky, healed, flying.
A breath of agonised relief escaped me as I watched him speeding into battle, my mind so caught on the impossibility of him flying, of his wing having been fixed, that it took a blast of water colliding with me to remind me that we were still in the midst of war.
I cursed as I was knocked from the sky, tumbling over and over as I fell, my clothes saturated, my windrider almost spinning from my grip.
With a determined growl, I tightened my hold on it and swung my leg back into place, launching myself skyward mere inches above the heads of my enemies.
Air magic rushed back into my possession just as they noticed me there and I blasted them with a hurricane which sent them all smashing into one another and flying away.
I shot back into the sky, my eyes finding Bastian once more and my surprise soured tenfold as I spotted the man riding valiantly on his back.
Prince Dragor was clad all in white as always, his pale hair hidden beneath a silver helm, his sword raised in command as he pointed to the western ranks of the Cascadian army where their ships filled the river which had brought them here.
Bastian followed his command at once, dropping low and raining down Dragon fire on the ships, blasting them to pieces and setting the world alight in his wake.
I recoiled from the sight of him being ridden like a glorified warhorse into battle, this king of beasts reduced to little more than a stallion beneath the heel of a master I’d had stepping on my own neck for far too long.
Alissa had already led my warriors away to do my bidding and for several too-long minutes all I did was speed between the projectiles launched my way and stare at the Dragon who had come to fight for people who weren’t his own. What had Dragor done to make him agree to this?
It took me several moments of hurtling through the sky to realise I was flying for him, heading towards the beast I’d been too much of a coward to face until now.
A herd of Cascadian Pegasuses sped into the sky from below me, thirty or more of them surrounding me in an instant, horns lowered as they prepared their charge.
“Shit.” I twisted my grip on my windrider, yanking its nose skyward and shooting for the stars as fast as I could go.
The Pegasus herd whinnied furiously, taking chase and though my windrider was fast, I knew it wouldn’t outpace them endlessly.
I needed to outmanoeuvre them but we were in an empty patch of sky, not a single obstacle for me to use to my advantage.
I threw my hand out, blasting air magic at them and knocking them back. Before I could get too excited about my move, the magic was wrenched from me, the place in my chest where power had been brimming to the point of overflowing now vacant.
For a moment I thought I was fucked but then I heard the wild, desperate screams coming from below and I looked down.
It took me a second to figure out why around thirty naked Fae were tumbling toward the ground with terrified cries of alarm before I realised I was looking at the Pegasus herd, their ability to shift also stolen by the Void and death rushing for them at speed.
I winced at the sickening crack of their bodies hitting the ground, flattening the warriors beneath them and taking more into death alongside them.